comedy

Revisiting a story I wrote on the occasion of the Dualtone label's 2008 release of classic "Leroy Mercer" prank-call recordings on CD, an attempt to set the record straight on just who the comic genius behind those calls was: John Bean of Knoxville, Tenn., who passed away before the phenomenon of the tapes came to full fruition.

A television production company has a rather off-the-wall idea it's helping one of the major cable channels develop -- it wants to create a talent-competition-type series (a la American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, et al) that plays out on location at, well, a truck stop. And in the spirit of radio truck driver talent hours and other such showcases, they want the crooners, musicians, comedians, dancers, jugglers, you name it, among the nation's long- ...